Everything we wanted to be in life all boils down to a choice. Scary, right? So if you really want to do something or be someone — how do you do it? How do you make sure that your choice is correct?

First and most important of all, the key is to get your mind into it. Condition your thoughts into what you want to happen. Some people say the best way is to visualize yourself doing what you want. Not just a fuzzy daydream but a full pledged, honest-to-goodness, day-by-day kind of visualizing. Say you want to be a successful manager – envision yourself dressing up in power suits, going to a corner office with a view, getting pats on the back for good work, speaking at conferences, etc.

It also helps to find a role model to imitate. By doing this, you have something to look forward to. It also helps you focus on your goal.

Remember, your mind is your most powerful tool. If you aim on getting that corner office or academy award or gold medal, it will show you how to get it. Whether the solution is for you to study more or practice better, your mind will direct you to it. Other people use affirmations, mantras, physical reminders, diaries and whatever works that can remind them about their goal. Getting another person or a support group to remind you will also be great!

On the other hand, if you keep on telling yourself ‘no, I couldn’t do it’ then you really can’t. There will be tons of excuses that you can fall back on anyway. Notice how convenient it is to just come up with them instead of aiming for something better? That’s where the power of your brain comes up again – negative or positive thoughts will influence what you are. Look around and observe – some people walk around with an upbeat attitude and some people are known as prophets of doom. You don’t even have to ask these two how they think. And generally speaking, don’t you notice that the upbeat ones are the ones who are successful and happy?

So, do you want to act on stage, write horror books, or climb Everest? Whatever you want, it is your choice to do or not to do it. Think hard. Then take our next step – go and do it.

Here’s a big productivity-killer: All the daily demands from your friends, family and colleagues.

Your spouse wants to go to dinner tonight. Your child wants you to drop what you’re doing and help her build a tree house right now. Your friend wants you to run for the city council. And your colleagues are always looking for help on something.

You’re a good person – you like to help out. So you often say yes to these sorts of requests.

The problem is, pretty soon everyone else’s projects are eating into your time. I mean you don’t mind helping others out – but when it gets to the point that you can’t get your to do lists done, then it becomes a problem.

Here’s how to start reclaiming your time…

* Start saying no. Just because you start saying no doesn’t mean you need to say no to everything. It just means that you realize some things are more important than others – and that you simply cannot do it all.

* Prioritize requests. The demands on your time are going to come in fast and furiously (as usual). So you need to start deciding which requests you want to accommodate and which ones you’ll need to politely decline.

For example, you may not want to break your child’s heart when she asks you to build a tree house, so family requests will be given high priority. But perhaps requests from colleagues (especially those requests that are favors that are rarely returned) can be given low priority.

* Delegate whenever possible. Sometimes you don’t want to say no… but you have to because you’re simply too pressed for time.  In that case, consider freeing up your time by delegating some of your other tasks.

* Stop feeling guilty. This is an important step – you need to stop feeling guilty when you say no.

It won’t always be easy. Sometimes friends, family and colleagues will deliberately give you a guilt trip when you say no. They may even be keeping score, so they can point out that they helped you last time… or they might even point out that you helped someone else, so why not them?

If someone is trying to make you feel guilty, that’s just another reason to say no. After all, who wants to do a favor for a bully?

Saying “no” takes practice – especially when you’re saying it to the people you’re close to. Just tell them that “no” doesn’t mean no to every request forever. It just means “no” to this particular request… and tomorrow is another day.

Do you ever find yourself wanting to complete a project or start a new one but can’t seem to make it happen? We all face these circumstances once and while, and there is one key factor that can help you overcome the inability to get started. That is short term goal setting.

By nature of it’s title short term goal setting is just that, goals set to be achieved in the near future. The near future for some may be one day to one month, there is no hard an fast rule about what is deemed to be short term. You need to feel comfortable about the time line you choose for completion of a goal.

Characteristics of a Short Term Goal

As with any goal you set you need to ensure a certain amount of exactness in your short term goal setting. Ambiguous goals rarely get achieved because they don’t have a finite outcome. Being specific about what it is you want to achieve allows you to set time lines for achievement, and break the goal down into smaller steps if required.

Once you have decided on a specific goal you need to set a time for achievement. This is where the short term aspect comes into play. We’re not really talking about a short term goal if it’s a year or two away. For short term goal setting we want to focus on things you can achieve in a shorter period of time. A good example is saving money towards a purchase or vacation. Generally you have anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months to set aside the money needed to possibly purchase something new or take that dream golf vacation.

While this isn’t a must with all short term goal setting some goals should be broken into smaller more manageable steps. Again this is dictated by how in depth the goal is. If you set a goal to bring coffee to work every day for two months, and not buy it at the local coffee shop that’s pretty much the one and only step there is. You could break it down into, buying ground coffee with your next grocery order, ensuring you have a thermal mug, but really that’s overboard. How ever if we revisit the above example of saving money for a trip or purchase there could be smaller steps taken out of that goal.

Short term goal setting is the best way to organize your life. Putting down on paper what it is you want and need to achieve, when it needs to be achieved by, and how you’re going to do it creates a road map for even the least motivated people. Of course there is still the element of action. If you’re not willing to do the work no amount of goal setting is going to help you achieve your dreams.  For those of us that are willing to do the work, but having troubles clearing our thoughts and deciding what needs to be done next goal setting will give you a blue print to work from.